A Democrat campaign staffer in California has been arrested and charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
On Thursday, police arrested 64-year-old Chinese national Yaoning “Mike” Sun on allegations that he conspired with 71-year-old Chen Jun — another CCP agent who was convicted last month and sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an agent for the Chinese government. Both Yaoning and Chen are also charged with conspiring to impact elections.
Dec 19: 🇨🇳 national Yaoning “Mike” Sun (孙耀宁) was arrested on charges of acting as an illegal agent for Beijing when serving as the campaign manager for an unnamed politician elected to a city council in Southern California in 2022 — most likely Arcadia City Councilmember… pic.twitter.com/eOnkTVSPhf
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) December 20, 2024
Yaoning’s accomplice, Chen, pleaded guilty to using money to bribe federal agents as part of an attempt to undermine the Falun Gong — a spiritual group that espouses anti-CCP values.
Yaoning was serving as a campaign staffer for a Democrat candidate who ran for a seat on the Arcadia City Council in California. While the court documents did not name the candidate, the New York Times has reported that the candidate — named “Individual 1” in the documents — is Chinese-American citizen Eileen Wang, who ran for the Arcadia City Council as a Democrat in 2022. Sun was employed as Wang’s treasurer for that campaign.
Wang is still serving on the city council, but has not yet been accused of any wrongdoing.
Arcadia City Councilmember Eileen Wang (王爱琳) has close ties with both pro-CCP individuals/groups in the US and united front groups in China. Wang has been working very very closely with Yaoning “Mike” Sun (孙耀宁) over the years. Wang also actively participated in various… https://t.co/m2ziNRbAHG pic.twitter.com/t9CtmhYhnh
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) December 20, 2024
In response to the charges, the Chinese Foreign Ministry falsely claimed that communist China “never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries” and stated that it was not familiar with the case.
Meanwhile, charging documents show that “Chen told Sun to report in 2023 on how they got an elected official in office in California. The report detailed that the politician that was pushed by the pair was a ‘new political star’ in the state,” according to The Post Millennial.
Speaking to reporters, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada explained that the case is “yet another example of a very disturbing trend: the People’s Republic of China is seeking to influence foreign and domestic policy in the United States. To do so, government officials in China are seeking to help get elected individuals who they see as being friendly to Chinese foreign policy.”